Other lawsuits pending
CG Technology, formerly Cantor Gaming, is “glad to have reached a resolution” with Nevada gaming regulators on charges that Michael Colbert, a former vice president and risk management director, also worked for an illegal betting operation. According to prosecutors in New York, where the case originated, Colbert accepted nearly $35 million in illegal wagers.
CG has agreed to pay a fine of $5.5 million; plead guilty pleas to 14 of 18 counts; and accept the equivalent of “no contest” pleas to the most serious charges, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The subsidiary of Wall Street financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald may have gotten off easy with the settlement, according to the Review-Journal. The terms allow it to continue operating and protects a billion-dollar investment by Cantor CEO Lee Amaitis and Chairman Howard Lutnick.
More than a year ago, New York state and federal authorities uncovered an illegal betting ring run out of Cantor’s Las Vegas sports books. Cantor?which changed its name to CG the same day the control board handed down the complaint?may still face a federal probe over alleged illegal wagering.
Amaitis is at the center of two active lawsuits. Cantor sued its former managing director Joe Asher after he left the company and created Brandywine Bookmaking, now with 16 Nevada race and sports books under the Lucky’s label. The suit alleges that Asher stole trade secrets, but the action was filed only after bookmaking giant William Hill bought Brandywine for $15.7 million and named Asher as its stateside CEO.
CG operates race and sports books at eight Las Vegas casinos and owns more than 30 percent of Nevada’s sports wagering market. The recent settlement requires approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission at a public hearing Thursday.
